Brutal movie, with a lot of action and great dialogue, Shia LaBeouf is a little annoying at the beginning, but is not bad in the movie, in the end I ended up liking him.
Tom Hardy is Tom Hardy, the biggest surprise in the movie is Guy Pearce, that performance was worthy of an oscar nomination for best actor in supporting role. I was scared of him, he was evil in person.
4/5
Fits snugly into John Hillcoat's filmography, particularly with the similarly violent "The Proposition" - crossed with Andrew Dominik's "Assassination of Jesse James" given the American setting, true story meets mythical legend and collaboration of Nick Cave (who wrote the screenplay and the score) - it's a very bloody rather basic story of three brothers during the Prohibition era of the early 1930s and the attempts by Chicago law enforcement to shut them down. A good (although at certain moments surprisingly comic) performance by hulking Tom Hardy centres the film, balanced by a less convincingly period Shia LaBeouf on one side (hard not to imagine Transformers popping up somehow) and an outrageous turn by preening Guy Pearce on the other. Jessica Chastain is luminous and excellent as ever, and Gary Oldman has a great cameo, finally back in charismatic bad guy mode. As I said the whole thing feels a little straightforward - there's not much subtext behind the excessive bloodletting - but it's highly entertaining all the same.
great movie. does nothing really very special but still manages to be very interesting thanks to great performances, excellent cinematography and some great characters.
It felt like several different films oddly stitched together with a bizarre epilogue and way too little Gary Oldman, but I liked it for what it was. It was hardly anything special, but the cast was excellent and it was compelling despite it's flaws.
Great cinematography, music, and acting from Hardy, Chastain, Oldman, and Pearce. Shia's not bad either. The tone and atmosphere are wonderful and this is good material to adapt a film from. Unfortunately the uneven plot, characterisation, and editing leave this feeling like 2 separate works with 2 different themes, fighting to gel into a compelling emotional center, and leaving a lot of filler in their wake. I understand there was a need to balance the harsh gritty brutal feeling of 'The Proposition' with a romanticized view of depression-era America to show the conflict in the central character, but it's like mixing water and oil. Some great moments and elements, but in one word: schizophrenic.
How could a film have so many good things going for it at the same time be riddled with so many mistakes? The setting, underlying story, aesthetics, and atmosphere were fantastic and yet the plot so unforgivably disjointed, there are only three possible explanations:
1. Lawless was made by two different directors taking turns, one bad and one good.
2. The credited director John Hillcoat decided to sleep through or get incredibly wasted during the entire editing process.
3. A shit load of footage was lost in a terrible fire and the makers had no choice but to work with what they had.
Still, more entertaining than 95% of the movies coming out. Wasn't as good as 3:10 to Yuma or American Gangster or True Grit, but it potentially could have been much better than all of those.
On a final note: If I could get my hands on some of those wardrobe pieces and somehow pull them off in public, I think I would finally feel content in my attire.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 20
Joker of Gotham
Brutal movie, with a lot of action and great dialogue, Shia LaBeouf is a little annoying at the beginning, but is not bad in the movie, in the end I ended up liking him.Tom Hardy is Tom Hardy, the biggest surprise in the movie is Guy Pearce, that performance was worthy of an oscar nomination for best actor in supporting role. I was scared of him, he was evil in person.
4/5
ReVision
Not bad, but really not that special.RoastMutton10
Well, I thought it was pretty awesome... Tom Hardy grunting a lot in a cardigan.dombrewer
Fits snugly into John Hillcoat's filmography, particularly with the similarly violent "The Proposition" - crossed with Andrew Dominik's "Assassination of Jesse James" given the American setting, true story meets mythical legend and collaboration of Nick Cave (who wrote the screenplay and the score) - it's a very bloody rather basic story of three brothers during the Prohibition era of the early 1930s and the attempts by Chicago law enforcement to shut them down. A good (although at certain moments surprisingly comic) performance by hulking Tom Hardy centres the film, balanced by a less convincingly period Shia LaBeouf on one side (hard not to imagine Transformers popping up somehow) and an outrageous turn by preening Guy Pearce on the other. Jessica Chastain is luminous and excellent as ever, and Gary Oldman has a great cameo, finally back in charismatic bad guy mode. As I said the whole thing feels a little straightforward - there's not much subtext behind the excessive bloodletting - but it's highly entertaining all the same.Darin
A sign that a movie is full of great characters - Gary Oldman somehow ends up with one of the least memorable ones.Earring72
Ok crime story but nothing memorableArmoreska
The most surprising event in this film is Velvet Underground song's country cover(s)CSSCHNEIDER
Shame that this was the follow up to the Proposition...aniforprez
great movie. does nothing really very special but still manages to be very interesting thanks to great performances, excellent cinematography and some great characters.Joelston
It felt like several different films oddly stitched together with a bizarre epilogue and way too little Gary Oldman, but I liked it for what it was. It was hardly anything special, but the cast was excellent and it was compelling despite it's flaws.KariVegas
tom hardy in a cardigan. go see it.Scratch47
Great cinematography, music, and acting from Hardy, Chastain, Oldman, and Pearce. Shia's not bad either. The tone and atmosphere are wonderful and this is good material to adapt a film from. Unfortunately the uneven plot, characterisation, and editing leave this feeling like 2 separate works with 2 different themes, fighting to gel into a compelling emotional center, and leaving a lot of filler in their wake. I understand there was a need to balance the harsh gritty brutal feeling of 'The Proposition' with a romanticized view of depression-era America to show the conflict in the central character, but it's like mixing water and oil. Some great moments and elements, but in one word: schizophrenic.devilsadvocado
What a terribly made "good" movie.How could a film have so many good things going for it at the same time be riddled with so many mistakes? The setting, underlying story, aesthetics, and atmosphere were fantastic and yet the plot so unforgivably disjointed, there are only three possible explanations:
1. Lawless was made by two different directors taking turns, one bad and one good.
2. The credited director John Hillcoat decided to sleep through or get incredibly wasted during the entire editing process.
3. A shit load of footage was lost in a terrible fire and the makers had no choice but to work with what they had.
Still, more entertaining than 95% of the movies coming out. Wasn't as good as 3:10 to Yuma or American Gangster or True Grit, but it potentially could have been much better than all of those.
On a final note: If I could get my hands on some of those wardrobe pieces and somehow pull them off in public, I think I would finally feel content in my attire.
Musanna
Good, but not great (as it coulda and shoulda been).BeasleyOnFilm
Great performances, stunning cinematography and an engaging story. It's all just a little too disjointed though.Showing items 1 – 15 of 20